Discomfort index

The National Weather Bureau, in 1959 started issuing a Discomfort Index, providing a measure of heat and humidity. The air conditioning industry grew as the index became more popular. 

The effects of the low air temperatures in the Transantarctic Mountains are magnified by wind which accelerates the loss of heat from the human body. This phenomenon is expressed quantitatively by the wind-chill scale (Rees 1993) that converts the measured temperature into an equivalent wind-chill temperature. For example, the arrow in Fig. 2.5a indicates that the measured air temperature of -10°C at a wind speed of 8 m/s corresponds to a wind-chill temperature of-20 C. In addition, a wind speed of 8 m/s in Fig. 2.5b is equivalent to a speed of 28.8 km/h. The wind-chill temperature also permits the definition of the discomfort index in Table 2.1. Accordingly, a wind-chill temperature of -20°C is perceived as being bitterly cold. Such conditions are not unusual during the austral sununer on the polar plateau and in the Transantarctic Mountains, except along the coast. 

Regarding intensity, when analysing discomfort (pain, discomfort, swelling and fatigue) the highest discomfort index very intense was (30.2%) on lumbar area, and (24.4%) on dorsal area. For intense levels the lumbar region (44.2%) and the dorsal area (34.9%). Values of 20.9% stand out for moderate discomfort for the neck and 4.7% for tight levels for the dorsal area. 

Properties Lt. yel. clear mobile liq. si. ammonialike odor sol. in water, common org. solvs. m.w. 152.24 dens. 1.022 (20/4 C) vapor pressure 1.08 mm Hg (68 F) f.p. < -50 C (1 atm) b.p. 115 C (11 mm) flash pt. 115.50 C ref. index 1.521 (20 C) Toxicology LD50 (oral, rat) 836 mg/kg, (skin, rabbit) 1233 mg/kg harmful by ing., skin contact corrosive to eyes, skin severe eye/skin/respiratory tract irritant vapor may cause lacrimation, conjunctivitis, corneal edema eye burns may cause blindness contact of undiluted prod, with eyes/skin may cause burns, necrosis, permanent injury absorbed thru skin may cause malaise, discomfort, injury, death chronic exposure may cause tightness of chest, shortness of breath TSCA listed... 

Viscosity enhancing agents intended for use in eye drops must fulfil several requirements. Their chemical and physical characteristics must be stable during and after sterilisation. Sterilisation induces an important viscosity decrease for some polymers. Moreover viscous polymer solutions should be free of particles, colourless, be optically clear and have a refractive index comparable to tear fluid (rj = 1.336-1.338). The concentration used should not cause discomfort and irritation. 

Holtmann et al. (2001) were the rst to investigate the effect of Enteroplant (twice daily) on disease-speci c quality of life as measured by the Nepean Dyspepsia Index. All scores were signi -cantly improved compared to the placebo. In 2002, the same team also demonstrated that patients suffering with severe pain or severe discomfort both responded signi cantly better in comparison to the placebo. 

The relationship between direct glare discomfort and the factors affecting it, viz. source brightness (Bs), background brightness (Bb), apparent size of the source angle (co), and an index (p) representing the position of the source in relation to the direction of vision, is as follows ... 

Observational studies The effects of age, sex, body mass index, and diabetes on the effects of regadenoson stress myocardial perfusion imaging have been studied on an analysis of a database of 2015 patients [17 ]. Compared with adenosine, regadenoson had a lower combined symptom score and less chest pain, flushing, and throat, neck, or jaw pain, but more headache and gastrointestinal discomfort. 

It is most important that TLV data be correctly used. Misuse can occur when uninformed individuals view these levels as magic numbers, below which workers are safe and above which they become ill. It should be remembered that there is wide variation in individual susceptibility to air contaminants and physical agents. Some workers may experience some discomfort from expo.sures at or below the TLV, and a much smaller number may be affected more. seriously by aggravation of a pre-existing condition or by development of an occupational illness. Therefore, the TLV s as published were intended to be used only as guides in the control of health hazards and not as levels which separate safe from dangerous exposures. In addition, a TLV is not intended as a relative index of hazard or toxicity, nor to be mathematically manipulated by applying foysical con.stants to derive a relative hazard. 

ABSTRACT Individuals spend most of their time in work environments and because of this reason their workplaces should be provided with optimal work conditions in order to increase performance and avoid work accidents. Thermal discomfort is one of the causes of work dissatisfaction which lead to individuals behavior changes as well as works accidents. This paper aims to study a manufacturing industry inner space affected by heat thermal environments in order to identify the most critical areas regarding two thermal indexes, EsConTer and THI, in which their interpretations valorize workers thermal sensation. From the color maps developed to facilitate indexes analysis the most critical areas of the space in study were easily identified as well as the most critical workstations near those areas. The health and safety department of the industry in study valorized the results in order to develop measures that may improve the occupational health of the occupants due to the approximation of the indexes results to workers thermal sensation. 

In THI index values of highest thermal discomfort reach 12.0°C (packaging A) and 9.4°C (packaging B), which means, according to the ranges defined in Table 1, 50% of these individuals were thermally uncomfortable. 

The PPD index was applied to discover the percentage of unsatisfied workstations in the packaging section. The observation of Figure 6 shows that in case of packaging. A thermal discomfort is less that in case of packaging B, because in first case only 44% of workers are thermally uncomfortable and in second case 70% of workers are thermally uncomfortable. This means that different situations of packaging show different thermal sensations. 

Four final year male students of a physiotherapy graduation course were recruited. Participant age (25.25 + 2.06 years), weight and height were collected and body mass index was calculated (22.13 + 1.43 kg/m ). The volunteers were healthy and were screened to exclude history of pathology. No cardiovascular, neurological, metabolic or musculoskeletal diseases and no medication affecting these systems were self-reported. The study was approved by the ethics committee of the Fernando Pessoa University and all participants gave their written consent to participate in the study after the procedures and any risk or discomfort associated with the... 

The occupational environment can be neutral, cold or hot. A combined action between the four environmental parameters (temperature, relative humidity, velocity and radiant heat) and the two individual parameters (clothing worn by the occupants and their activity) can lead to a thermal comfort, discomfort, or to a thermal stress situation (Parsons, 2013). The integration of these parameters can be done in a thermal index in a way that will provide a single value that is related to the effects on the occupants. Three types of indices can be identified empirical, rational and derived. According to Parsons (2000), rational indices are derived from mathematical models that describe the behavior of the human body in thermal environments. The analysis of these situations can be achieved using diverse techniques and comfort models, such as Computation Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and other numerical simulations (Murakami et ah, 2000). The human thermal software (Teixeira et al., 2010) is based on differential... 

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